OpticalFiberStandardsand TheirApplications

ThiamBoonKwee FiberOptoAsiaPteLtd FiberOpto Asia Pte Ltd

Agenda
OpticalFiberatWork Optical Fiber at Work MajorCategoriesofOpticalFiber MajorAttributesofOpticalFiber j ib f O i l ib InternationalStandardsforOpticalFibers BendInsensitiveFiberStandards

Optical Fiber at Work

Since 1980s, optical fiber cable is slowing replacing copper cable as the mainstream medium of transmission in telecommunication network From undersea submarine network, terrestrial long-haul, to metro backbone and access network Now we are already beginning to see fibers running in the last mile and even into the subscribers home. Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) has become a industrial buzzword. This is an umbrella term used for emerging ( ) g g access networks that uses optical fiber in the first/last mile.

MajorCategoriesofOpticalFibers SinglemodeFiber Singlemode Fiber MultimodeFiber SpecialtyFiber S i l ib PlasticOpticalFiber

Singlemode or Multimode, Any One ?

n

Single-mode

Standard Step-Indexed (Match-cladding)

n r
Depressed Cladding

Dispersion Shifted

Refractive Index Profile

n

Multimode

50 m 0

r
Graded index

62.5 m

Types of Optical Fiber y

Single-mode g
Single-Mode Fiber It consists of smaller co e a d o y a o s o e mode (o pa ) for light to travel co s s s o s a e core and only allows one ode (or path) o g o a e

Multimode
Multimode Fiber Its bigger core size allows multiple modes (or paths) of light to travel

Attenuation of Fiber

Direction of light transmission The tt Th attenuation is measured in dB/km ti i d i dB/k Power is measured in dBm = 10 x Log10 (Power output in mW/1mW) Loss is measured in dB = (Power output in dBm/Power input in dBm) Note that 3dB loss means 50% of the power is loss

MajorAttributesofOpticalFiber
Attenuation Dispersion i i

Attenuation Curve of Optical Fiber (Attenuation versus Wavelength Curve) g )

Attenuation (dB/km) 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 Reduced or zero water peak attenuation for p G.652D and some G.655 fibers

Higher attenuation (or water peak) due to OHOH Present in the fiber core

0 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 Wavelength (nm)

Dispersion

Dispersion limiting bit rate

Dispersion is one of the unique characteristics of light wave transmission p q g in glass (eg. Optical fiber, glass prism). This is not seen in electrical transmission in copper cable. Dispersion refers to broadening of light pulse (in time domain) over time , therefore causing pulse distortion and therefore limiting the transmission speed

Different types of dispersions

(1) Modal dispersion Mainly in multimode fibers wavefront

Light wave travels in different paths, thus different distances, and arriving at diff i i t different times at the receiver, giving rise t modal t ti t th i i i i to d l dispersion Graded index in multimode fiber attempts to mitigate this effect. p g

Dispersion Curve for Optical Fiber

Dispersion (ps/nm.km) 20 15 10 5 0 1100 -5 -10 -15 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 Wavelength (nm)

Components of C C f Chromatic Dispersion material dispersion wavelength dispersion More of the different fiber standards later

International Standards for Optical fiber p

ITU-T G.651 Multimode fiber standard ITU-T G 652 ITU T G.652 Standard Singlemode fiber. 4 different categories (A, B, C, D) differ in the water peak attenuation around the 1383nm window Equivalent standards : Telcordia GR-20, IEC 60793-2, TIA/EIA-492CAAB ITU-T G.653 Zero Dispersion Shifted Fiber (ZDSF), having zero dispersion around the 1550nm window ITU-T G.654 Cutoff hift d d low attenuation fib d i C t ff shifted and l tt ti fiber, designed mainly f submarine applications d i l for b i li ti ITU-T G.655 Non-zero Dispersion Shifted Fiber (NZDSF), having low dispersion in the 1550nm and 1625nm windows, the DWDM region. Suited for longhaul and backbone applications. Categories A B C D E differ in PMD and dispersion values C t i A, B, C, D, diff i d di i l ITU-T G.656 Medium Dispersion Fiber (MDF), designed for local access and longhaul fiber ITU-T G 657 ITU T G.657 Latest standard (from 2008 Jan) for FTTH application. Designed to bend at small radius of down to 10mm radius and 7.5mm radius

Bend Insensitive Fiber Standards

The Need for Bend-Insensitive Fiber The Standards for Bend Insensitive Fibers Bend-Insensitive To Bend or Not to Bend, that is the Question

FTTH
In FTTH, fibre is home-run from exchanges all the way to home run the subscriber premises up to the Termination Point (TP) on the wall of the subscribers home

Sharp bend Wall-mounted TP box (OpenNet)

Sharp bend

Sharp bend

FTTH
Sharp bends are unavoidable in last mile cable installation in FTTH deployment deplo ment Patch cord connecting TP point to ONT (Optical Network Terminal) also requires ruggedized bend-insensitive capability

Can We Defy Laws of Optics ?

2 > c 2 n2 Core

Light reflected back into core Total internal reflection occurs

n1

Cladding

Light is guided through the fibre by law of total internal reflection

Moderate loss with large diameter bends

Increased loss with tighter bends

Multimode
In enterprise network, multimode fiber is becoming more popular in the horizontal cabling in the Fiber-to-the-Zone (FTTZ) architecture Bandwidth is shifting from 1Gbps to 10Gbps, therefore shrinking the power loss budget

StandardsforBendInsensitiveFiber
Singlemode Fiber Standards ITU-T G.657
Category A Bend Radius 10mm 7.5 mm 5 mm ITU-T G.657.A.1 0.75 dB/turn 0.5 dB/turn 0.15 dB/turn ITU-T G.657.A.2
NEW

ITU-T G.657.A.3

Category A emphasize on backward compatibility with ITU-T G.652.D Loss specified at 1550nm

Singlemode Fiber Standards

ITU-T G.657
Category B Bend Radius 7.5 mm 5 mm ITU-T G.657.B2 0.5 dB/turn 0.15 dB/turn ITU-T G.657.A.2

Category B need not be backward compatibility with ITU-T G.652.D Loss specified at 1550nm L ifi d t 1550

Multimode Fiber Standards

Bend Radius 37.5 mm 15 mm Loss at 850nm

IEC 60793-2-10 0.5 dB/100 turn -

ITU-T G.651.1 1 dB/ 2 turn

Currently there is no standard which define tighter bend radius for Multimode y g fibers Bend insensitive multimode fiber, achieved by keeping most modes in the core of the fiber, may disturb the mode distribution vital in the high performance MMF such as OM3 and OM4